Appendix P

The first American newspaper appeared in April 1704, and was published at Boston. (See
Collections of the Historical Society of Massachusetts, Vol. VI, p. 66.) It would be a mistake to
suppose that the press has always been entirely free in the American colonies: an attempt was
made to establish something like censorship and posting of bonds. (Con- sult the Legislative
Documents of Massachusetts, January 14, 1722.)

The Committee appointed by the General Court (the legislative body of the province) for
the purpose of examining an affair relative to a paper entitled The New England Courant
expresses its opinion that "the tendency of the said journal is to turn religion into derision, and
bring it into contempt; that it mentions the sacred writers in a profane and irreligious manner; that
it puts malicious interpretations upon the conduct of the ministers of the Gospel; and that the
government of His Majesty is insulted, and the peace and tranquillity of the Province disturbed, by
the said journal. The Committee is consequently of opinion that the printer . and publisher, James Franklin, should be forbidden to print and publish the said journal or any
other work in future, without having previously submitted it to the Secretary of the Province; and
that the justices of the peace for the county of Suffolk should be commissioned to require bail of
the said James Franklin for his good conduct during the ensuing year."

The suggestion of the Committee was adopted, and passed into a law; but the effect was
null, for the journal eluded the prohibition by putting the name of Benjamin Franklin instead of
James Franklin at the bottom of its columns, and this maneuver was supported by public opinion.